Volterra, Daniele da

Volterra, Daniele da

(dänyā`lā dä vōltĕr`rä), 1509–66, Italian mannerist painter and sculptor. His family name was Ricciarelli, but he was known by the name of his birthplace. He was active primarily in Rome, and his works reveal the influence of his friend Michelangelo, of whom he executed portraits in sculpture. His best-known painting is Descent from the Cross (c.1545; Trinità dei Monti, Rome). Other paintings include Massacre of the Innocents (1557; Uffizi) and David Killing Goliath (c.1555; Louvre). He was nicknamed Il Braghettone [breeches maker] because of his commission to paint clothes over the nudes in Michelangelo's Last Judgment.

Highlights included the small-scale copy of the Last Judgment, commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese of Marcello Venusti in 1549, which shows the imposing fresco before the strategic coverings and changes made by Daniele da Volterra to hide the nudity and other perceived vulgarities (earning Volterra the nickname of Il braghettone, the breeches painter).

THE THREE MARYS', AFTER ROSSO FIORENTINO, POSSIBLY BY DANIELE DA VOLTERRA

38) The mourning figure of the Magdalene in the Dresden sheet is drawn in reserve; it is possible that this draughtsmanly detail and the minute delicacy of the drawing both point to the authorship of the young Daniele da Volterra (before the 1540s), an admirer of Rosso's paintings and a native of the town owning his great masterpiece.

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